Just the other day I was talking about how cool and special it is that the Reds will finally, after several years, play on Opening Day, as opposed to waiting for some ESPN night game or whatever to go first. Welp, so much for that. Their Opening Day game has been postponed.

Rain is in forecast for all day Thursday in Cincinnati, so they’ll open on Friday afternoon instead, taking advantage of what was a scheduled day off for both teams. It’s the first time since 1966 that Cincinnati has rescheduled its season opener because of the weather.

In related news, the Reds’ annual Opening Day parade doesn’t have to be moved. It was already itself moved to Monday because of some conflict with Easter stuff, so all in all this is a weird Opening Day experience for the Reds and Cincinnati.

Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle reports that Oakland Athletics owner John Fisher has reversed course and will continue to pay minor leaguers. Fisher tells Slusser, “I concluded I made a mistake.” He said he is also setting up an assistance fund for furloughed employees.

The A’s decided in late May to stop paying paying minor leaguers as of June 1, which was the earliest date on which any club could do so after an MLB-wide agreement to pay minor leaguers through May 31 expired. In the event, the A’s were the only team to stop paying the $400/week stipends to players before the end of June. Some teams, notable the Royals and Twins, promised to keep the payments up through August 31, which is when the minor league season would’ve ended. The Washington Nationals decided to lop off $100 of the stipends last week but, after a day’s worth of blowback from the media and fans, reversed course themselves.

An @sfchronicle exclusive: A's owner John Fisher reverses course, apologizes: team will pay minor-leaguers; "I concluded I made a mistake," he tells me. He's also setting up an assistance fund for furloughed employees: https://t.co/8HUBkFAaBx)